HMRC Be warned

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Globalti

Legendary Member
My elderly Mum got the call from "Microsoft" and a bullying woman with a far-east accent managed to persuade her to go online and download some software. Luckily Mum had an appointment she couldn't miss so she had to terminate the call but they agreed to talk again later. In the meantime she began to worry about it so she phoned me for advice and I told her not to switch on the laptop again but to take it to the local computer doctor, who removed whatever had been uploaded. They kept ringing her for several days after that, poor woman was in quite a state.

Older folk grew up at a time when you could trust most of the people you knew. And as you age the part of your brain that governs belief becomes less active and you become more gullible.
 

Mr Celine

Discordian
HMRC.Recieved a pre recorded message saying that they are about to proceed against me.Did some checking ,the call originates in India and asks for certain information name address insurance no ,all of which if they are who they say they are should be on record

Might be in my very senior years but I am not yet susceptible to scams

The fact that you checked to see if it was a scam suggests that you weren't surprised to get a demand from HMRC....
;)
 

tom73

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
Joking aside for anyone worried about this stuff just remember the tax man always send's letters , never calls, text, email ect.
My help someone stay safe :smile:
 

Cycleops

Legendary Member
Location
Accra, Ghana
I faked my own death so the HMRC wouldn't hassle me again.
If you did you'd be in good company, like this man who had the same idea some forty five years ago;

stone-548193.jpg


Does anybody remember him?
 

oldwheels

Legendary Member
Location
Isle of Mull
I got a call from “ Clydesdale Bank Security” asking if I had authorised a sum of £1100 to an account in India. I think the next move was to get my a/c number and pin tho’ the call to me never got that far. Several people locally were taken in however as they seemed to be targeting the elderly who were in many cases not very computer savvy. I do have internet banking so it is easy to do an online check but in one case the bank computers were down which made it slightly more complicated.
 

glasgowcyclist

Charming but somewhat feckless
Location
Scotland
I have had similar calls, usually the broadband technical help one, and I ask them for two simple things to verify their identity: the account number to which the call refers, and the seventh and thirteenth characters of the agreed security passphrase. I mean, obviously there is no passphrase but it's good fun listening to them try to bluff it. They never can tell me the account number either, funny that.
 

Milkfloat

An Peanut
Location
Midlands
Joking aside for anyone worried about this stuff just remember the tax man always send's letters , never calls, text, email ect.
My help someone stay safe :smile:

I frequently get emails from them. Helpfully they never contain a link to login from their tell you to search for it instead.
 
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